Friday, 7 March 2014

Stepping up.

I had some cool sessions at Punta last week. The wind has dropped now after blowing constantly for ages- it might actually be quite nice to have a breather, dust the cobwebs off the SUP and just cruise for a bit. I have been getting more and more comfortable jumping over the last month or so, last week I attempted (and landed, I hasten to add!) my first push loops since the operation, and probably since a good 8 months or so before that as I had been too injured to sail/jump since before Christmas 2012 really. Pretty happy to be back on the water at all, never mind doing all the stuff I could do before and I feel now as though I am getting back to the level I was at a couple of years ago, although I still have a way to go.

On the last windy morning at Punta we hit the tide just right and there were great ramps on just about every run so I decided to try all my jumps one-handed for half an hour to see how it went. I had the GoPro on the mast and got some great snapshots but it seemed a shame to throw all the footage away so I chucked it together into a short video for the blog. I must say it was nice to feel that familiar nervous feeling you get before you try a new manoeuvre for the first time (even though I've done these in the past, it was a very long time ago and I never really practiced either move), reminded me of when I learnt air chachos many moons ago! The back loops went surprisingly well but I really struggled with nailing the landings from the one-handed forwards as you can see in the video, although they are kind of landed so I maybe shouldn't be too disconsolate. Video footage is a fantastic tool for learning which is why I use it on all my clinics, and I think I have sussed my shortcomings from watching my GoPro footage back and am fairly certain I'll be landing them cleanly next time out, watch this space...

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Welcome to the site!Aswell as regular features and news updates from Fuerte, I am going to be using this site to promote my windsurfing clinics.
After 15 years on the island,having competed in the PWA freestyle world cup and now representing Fanatic Boards and North Sails, I have decided to give something back to the sport which has given me so much over the years.
My aim is to provide clinics "tailor-made"for each individual, with a strong emphasis on practical in-the-water instruction, backed up by on-the-beach tuition and video analysis. The consistent conditions here in Fuerte make learning so much easier and, perhaps equally important, more fun than the typically inconsistent, cold UK - why not come over for a week and improve your windsurfing by a year!!!I can help with any manoeuvres from carve-gybe through to advanced jumping and freestyle, just email me with your wish list and we'll take it from there! Over the next few months, I am going to be video-chronicling manoeuvres which you can check out on the right in my tricktionary sections. This will give you some idea of the things we can work on, or, if you can't make it over here, you may find them useful to help understand and break down a manoeuvre you would like to learn (hopefully, the slow-mo will help in this respect!).Just click on the trick and scroll down..........Anyway, keep checking it out as I have loads more in my bag of tricks and will be updating as and when I get the footage.If you're interested, e-mail me on gibboinfuerte@yahoo.co.uk See ya in Fuerte? Stephen.............